The official poetry platform at Art Alive is back! This year, Speak the Mind celebrates 22 years of Arts Alive and 20 years of South Africa’s Democracy with a line-up that features literary giants, revolutionary wordsmiths and contemporary musicians as well as rising starts from South Africa, the US, Jamaica, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Swaziland.
The Speak the Mind Poetry Spoken Word Sessions takes place at the Joburg Theatre in Braamfontein (The Mandela) and doors open at 19h00, 5 September. Tickets available from the Joburg Theatre Website.
A poet and writer, Dr Serote was part of the generation of black South African writers called the Soweto Writers in the 1970s and his early work contributed to the foundations of the Black Consciousness movement. His debut poetry collection, Yakhal’inkomo (1972) won the Ingrid Jonker Poetry Prize in 1973 and he’s the 1993 recipient of the prestigious NOMA Award for Publishing in Africa.
Completing the South Africa bill is the Cape Town experimental band, Soul Housing Project founded by Bokani Dyer and Sakhile Moleshe.
Swazi female lyricist and vocalist Jazz P teams up with Zimbabwean jazz artist and multi- instrumentalist, Josh Meck to deliver an afro fusion of rap and afrojazz.
As one of Nigeria’s leading spoken word artists, Efe Paul-Azino is a writer who through his work aims to raise youth awareness on socio-economic and political issues. He is credited for being a voice of a generation that takes poetry out of the shadows of academia and using it as an entertaining, transformative tool.